Zombies are a staple in horror films, and more particularly, Australian films with horror hits like Wyrmwood 1 and 2, The Red, Little Monsters, Black Sheep and Primal (just to name a few!) Aussie cinema is no stranger to the undead, with each film bringing something different to the table.
The premise of this film feels scarily like something that could easily happen. The U.S.A “accidentally” drops a deadly virus onto Tasmania, effectively wiping out a lot of the population, and leaving those with unfinished business transforming into monsters that hunt those who they are finding closure from. The virus outbreak was so sudden that it froze everyone in their tracks, and the country called on volunteers to come in and help go from house to house, identifying bodies and cleaning up. Enter Ava (Daisy Ridley), who is looking for her husband Mitch (Matt Whelan), who was sent to Tasmania for work. Ava dives right in to get intel on her husband’s whereabouts and teams up with Clay (Brenton Thwaites), a rogue travelling tradie who is the exact opposite of Ava. When the two meet up with Riley (Mark Coles Smith) they begin to discover that there is more to these undead than mindless zombies than they first thought.
Daisy Ridley stars here, which is odd to see in an Australian production. It seems to be a trend for local productions to attract international talent, with this film and next week’s Jimpa, it does a lot to get more eyes on a project that may have otherwise been lost in the sea of films flooding our cinemas each week. That said, her performance really grounds this film, and her dedication to her husband and determination to find him carry the plot when things start to slow. Her chemistry with Whelan is palpable. While we are in horror movie territory here, there is more of a silent intensity here that permeates each lingering moment. The unsettledness of not knowing if the undead are actually dead, frozen in place, or a revenge-seeking monster that will stop at nothing to find their closure helps the intensity of each scene.
Filming for this movie was set in Tasmania, but the actual scenes were done in Western Australia. Writer/Director Zak Hilditch has stated that this was a financial issue and that it was too costly to take everything down to Tassie (although filmmaker Jennifer Kent managed to do so with 2018’s The Nightingale). This was the only part of the film that really let it down. Tasmania offers an isolated, desolate environment that Western Australia just can’t replicate as effectively. It still looks like Australia, just not the specific area we are meant to be transported to.
We Bury the Dead has a lot to say about love, life, grief and death. The film is carried by an outstanding performance from Ridley, who navigates a series of flashbacks with her husband to figure out what went wrong in their relationship and how to fix it. The zombies are not the main feature here; they act as the catalyst for forcing change upon Ava and her current situation. Some solid jump scares and a fantastic supporting local cast round this out to deliver one of the most original and engaging zombie movies we have seen on screen in a while.
We Bury the Dead is in Australian cinemas from February 6th.
